B2C Solution - White Paper
Abstract
Information Management Xpert Solutions has created the end-to-end real-time order fulfillment/ecommerce system. The EOS360 and ShopEOS360 solutions do more than the typical off-the-shelf order fulfillment and ecommerce software packages. These solutions were designed to integrate seamlessly, giving our customers an intuitive system for order fulfillment centers that can easily support internet sales with just a few clicks, all without adding extra steps, hardware or software to your process.
The Problem
Trophy Nut, a large nut retailer required a more efficient solution to streamline the order fulfillment processes for their call center and ecommerce web site.
The previous process involved two separate systems, one for order fulfillment and one to maintain the ecommerce system. In this dual system environment, synchronization of inventory was a redundant, manual process and orders received on the ecommerce system required additional manual entry into the order fulfillment system. Customer lists were maintained by both systems but without a simple method for synchronization, corrections on one system were not necessarily made to the other system creating errors and customer frustration. Additionally, promotions and discounts between the two systems were not synchronized and required redundant work.
Besides the redundancy and synchronization issues, the previous systems had complex interfaces which increased training time, multiplied by two for those personnel who needed to operate both systems. Customer and recipient maintenance was time consuming and there was no process in place to differentiate between the two, complicating the issue. Multi-recipient shipments for a customer could not be completed in one order and had to be entered individually. This not only increased employee time, but added to the customers time(and frustration) needed to complete an order.
Finally, not only were the two systems different applications, but also ran on different operating systems, one Windows and one Unix. This doubled the initial hardware cost and increased the annual service fees for maintaining the equipment.
The Product
EOS360 (Figure 1) was designed as a call center end-to-end order fulfillment application. It provides tools to manage customers, orders, inventory, warehouses, and accounting while providing reports on each segment of the order fulfillment process.
Figure 1
ShopEOS360 (Figure 2), the ecommerce solution, displays products marked for ecommerce in EOS360 on a company branded ecommerce web site. It provides full user account functionality so your customers can create personal profiles which track current and previous orders as well as recipient address book information for gift giving. It also includes a multi-recipient functionality which makes single-order multiple ship-tos gift giving a reality.
Figure 2
The seamless integration and intuitive design of the two solutions allow a 'one click' option to display products on the internet while maintaining an up-to-the-minute status of inventory, orders and customers.
The Solution
IMX Solutions provided Trophy Nut with a Windows based solution which immediately eliminated the need for additional hardware platforms to run multiple operating systems, saving money and eliminating complexity.
The Trophy Nut EOS360 solution (Figure 3) replaced the previous call center order fulfillment system. The new system provides Trophy Nut personnel complete control of customer and recipient maintenance, orders information, product, warehouse and vendor management, accounting tasks, administrative functions, and a full range of customized reports. The admin functions include user admin and complete control of shipping, promotions and source codes options for their catalog sales.
Figure 3
"Training time on the software has been cut back dramatically... What use to take days….now takes an hour. Yes, I said an hour."
The simple interface design of the EOS360 application drastically reduced the training required for CSR's to begin taking orders and reps were working with the new system within hours. The system removed the customer and recipient maintenance issues by keeping each in a separate list but keeping a link between recipients and the customer records they are tied to. Complex multi-ship-to orders have been simplified as sub-orders can be placed on each order and recipients can be selected from the customers address book within the order screen. One order, multiple recipients, multiple shipments, one bill to the customer.
Trophy Nut also added a ShopEOS360 ecommerce solution (Figure 4, Trophy Nut was the prototype company for EOS360 and ShopEOS360) which integrated seamlessly with their EOS360 order fulfillment solution.
Figure 4
All previous redundancy and synchronization issues were eliminated as both the EOS360 and ShopEOS360 use the same database of information. Displaying products on the web site is literally as easy as checking a block in the EOS360 solution and Trophy Nut now has complete control of product, promotion and shipping options for their web site without needing to have a full time webmaster on staff.
Customers using the ecommerce system enjoy all the same benefits of customers who order through the call center, and can create multi-recipient orders on a single bill. They also have the option of setting up profiles and address books to simplify future purchases. This new functionality actually reduces workload on the call center personnel since customers can now complete all their ordering on their time from the comfort of their homes without having to call in the order.
Conclusion
The EOS360 solution provided Trophy Nut with an application that was not only easy to learn, but actually reduced the staffing requirements of their call center due to reduced order entry time, especially for the previously complex multi-recipient orders. Redundant product and customer entry, maintenance and synchronization issues between the two systems were eliminated and ecommerce orders are now automatically entered into the order fulfillment workflow due to the seamless integration of the EOS360 and ShopEOS360 solutions.
IMX Solutions provides forward-thinking products that save you time, eliminate redundant tasks, eliminate the need for additional hardware and software and increase profitably. Contact us today to see what our solutions can do for you.
